One of the magazine advice column articles was about a couple who has to travel. The husband always cleans up their hotel room before the maid comes in, so that it is not messy. The wife thinks this is a waste of his time - that they are paying for the maid to do that job.

I thin kit might be more that the husband might like order around him in some way. Maybe he can't relax mentally if things are messy. Lots of people are like that.

If you are on vacation, or traveling for any reason, you are paying to have someone clean up after you. Not saying you should be extra slobby, but you don't have to make the beds, take out the trash and scrub the toilets.

In this case it wasn't a matter of being messy or not messy, he was explicitly cleaning up things that a maid would normally do - like straightening out the bed - before the maid got there.

As a side note, the couple were lawyers, which only matters in it was mentioned in the columnist's response

He said that when the revolts came and the lawyers were thrown down and the maids all rose up, that the husband would be one of the ones saved because all the maids remembered his good deeds But really, he said, maids already have a really rough job and slave in bad conditions for little money. They deserve all the help they can get, and the husband was a good soul for giving that help.

I tend to agree here. I neaten up the blankets and organize the trash before the maids get there, to make their job easier. I can't empty the trash or scrub the toilets - I don't have tools to do those things - and I imagine even if they left a scrubbie behind the toilet I probably wouldn't go to that extreme. But I do gather up all the trash into the bin and mostly make the bed so that their tasks are easier.

Bob takes it to a different extreme. If we stay in a room for multiple days he doesn't want the maid in there at all, he just cleans things himself until we leave. So in that sense the maid gets a few days off

I do not like having to "Look" for things when I am traveling. To prevent that I keep the room quite neat. I put my things away and straighten the bed so there is not something on the bed that I might be looking for later.

I guess I have to disagree with you, Lisa. I make a TON less than a maid. So when i pay to go out, I consider it part of my savings to not have to clean for once. Again, not a slob. But don't I deserve a break when I choose to splurge? Usually I just sleep in the back of my car when I travel.

Also, I never want the maid in my room either. Never at all. I don't like people in my space. I hang the do not disturb sign the whole time, and I go to the carts myself and ask for things I might need, like TP or lotion, or coffee packs.

And I don't want new towels, new sheets, daily. Part of my thing to help the environment.

I definitely understand the splurge idea for you Jilly - and that is an awesome point you bring up. For some people the mere act of being in a hotel is a great luxury and they want to enjoy every moment of it. So that is most definitely a good point to ponder.

That's an interesting idea. I think I would be uncomfortable with leaving the room with a pile of blankets on the floor - when they had no idea what was "in them" - vs leaving the bed fairly neat so all they have to do is rip things off of it.

An interesting discussion. When we travel, not often at all these days, except to visit my son at college. We have one particular lovely place we stay. It is on the college campus and college students make up a large percentage of the staff. We keep our personal items together, but let them pickup the rest and leave a tip at the end of the stay. Its our chance to get out of making the beds for a day or two. ;-)

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"Many have forgotten this truth...You remain responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."